Article excerpt

With a letter that criticizes the management of the city public
schools, St. Louis Mayor Freeman Bosley Jr. has stepped up the
friction between himself and the St. Louis School Board.

In the five-page letter to the School Board president, the Rev.
Earl Nance Jr., Bosley responded in sharp words to what his staff
characterized as the "confrontational tone" of a resolution the
School Board sent him March 18.

The mayor's press secretary, Pat Washington, said Sunday that
the mayor also was upset by "the underlying insinuation that the
School Board didn't appreciate the mayor's interest in the schools."

In the final paragraph of his letter, dated Thursday, Bosley
asked Nance not to respond "until the Board of Education members
are willing to place the education of our kids in front of their
egos."

The Post-Dispatch obtained a copy of the letter Sunday.

A conciliatory Nance declined Sunday to discuss that
resolution, except to say that Bosley "got some things off his
chest, and we got some things off our chest, of mutual interest. It
wasn't adversarial, and we don't take it that way."

But board member Robyn Wahby said she was disappointed in the
mayor's response. "He urged us not to respond . . . and that
doesn't sound cooperative or collaborative," she said.

She said the resolution sent to Bosley dealt with issues such
as tax abatements and asked the mayor to establish a task force of
business, civic and education leaders to study education and
economic development.

As mayor, Bosley has shown interest in the St. Louis Public
Schools, visiting them and talking to children.

In his letter to Nance, Bosley noted that he is a graduate of
the public schools, his wife is a teacher in a public school and
his daughter attends a public school. He also said that he had
visited more than 50 city public schools, "more than the visits of
anyone on the Board of Education."

In his letter, Bosley said that finances alone were not the
real issue. ". . . The problems that the schools face don't
necessarily require more money - they require better management."

In a comparison Bosley has made several times recently, he
finds the public schools wanting compared with Archdiocesan schools. …